Torchwood Rewritten
by Otakufanlover
Summary: Just as the title says my favorite Authors and I are going to rewrite Torchwood as it should have been written. With Janto smut and fluff. There also will be Gwen Bashing.
1. Prologue

**Torchwood Rewritten**

Prologue-Written by otakufanlover

Disclaimer: My Friends and I do not own Torchwood. If we did there would have been way more Janto, Nobody would have died and Gwen would be put in her place or dead.

Authors Note/Warnings: I will warn again this will have Gwen bashing if you do not like this then PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS THEN! There will also be Spoilers if you have not finished Torchwood. My Author Friends and I will take turns writing a chapter. I am going first with the Prologue. We will put down the name of the Author who has written there chapter so everyone will know who did that great chapter but they are all going to be great. Please enjoy my Prologue I hope everyone likes it.

Pairings

Jack/Ianto

Owen/Tosh

Rhys/Andy

John/Jake

"This was not supposed to happen! What changed, how did this happen Fate!" A female voice yelled. Fate just shook her head and said.

"I don't know how this could have happen? Do you Destiny?" Fate asked.

"No I do not. What about you Time?" Destiny asks. Time shook his head and says.

"Death and I have looked through all of the documents to see what went wrong and we think we have found the problem." Time says as he goes over to the viewing ball.

"And what have you found?" Love asks eager to know if they can fix the wrong so her two favorites can be happy again. Death walks up to stand next to Time and explains.

"Well when Time and I were looking back at every detail and testing to see if that was the cause we kept coming back to the same conclusion." Death answers.

"So what went wrong?" Fate asks.

"Not what but whom." Time says.

"Whom?" Destiny asks.

"Yes whom it was a person who changed everything." Death says.

"Who was it? Who caused this much for my boys?" Love almost yells. Fate and Destiny hugged Love close. Time and Death looked at each other then Time answered.

"The one who caused all of this mess is…PC Gwen Cooper." Time says. Love froze for a second.

"Wait…THAT BITCH WAS THE CAUSE OF MY IANTO DYING? Love yells angrily. Fate and Destiny were also pissed. Time and Death were getting a little scared of how angry the females were getting.

"So all we have to do is get rid of her right?" Fate asks. Time shakes his head.

"No we tried to see if we could do that but we can't." Time explains.

"So what you're saying is my boys will never be happy." Love says sadly.

"And my pair will stay dead." Destiny says through clenched teeth.

"And my pair will never meet and get together." Fate says pissed and sad.

"We did not say that." Death says.

"But…You said you cannot get rid of _her_." Love spites the last part.

"Yes we said we cannot get rid of her but we can make it so she will not be a manger nonsense." Time explains. Love, Fate and Destiny were confused.

"And how do we do that?" Fate asks.

"We will add two people to join Torchwood when Gwen Cooper does so she will be put to the side and when the time comes two more people will join right Fate." Death explains. Fate nods happy that her two boys would finally meet down the road. Love and Destiny were also happy that their favorites were also going to be okay. Time and Death nod to each other glad they could come up with this solution.

"And this is where Everything Changes." Time says proudly.

Author's Note: I hope everyone likes the prologue! Look forward to WingedHybrid doing chapter 1-Everything Changes. Please R&R and NO flamers please. ^ _ ^


	2. Chapter 1 Everything Changes

**Chapter One: Everything Changes by WingedHybrid**

The sunlight broke through the cracks in the curtains and warmed one side of Ianto Jones' peaceful, slumbering face. In Wales, the bright light was uncommon so it instantly began to disturb. The 25-year-old shifted away from the heat, into the body beside him that was acting as his pillow, and clenched his eyes shut in stubbornness, tightening his grip around his partner's narrow waist.

The body shifted, curling towards him. There was a small groan. "Uh…Yan?"

"Ianto's not here right now. Please leave a message after the beep…" he mumbled sleepily, twisting further into the warmth and comfort of the duvet cover.

Captain Jack Harkness chuckled in amusement. He had, once again, forgotten how young his lover was and how important sleep was at his age. He wanted nothing more than to let the man sleep but, as his boss, he knew he couldn't allow that. Sighing, he shuffled down the bed until he was face to face to those droopy blue eyes. He ran his hand through the messy bed hair.

"Time to get up and face the world." He said in a sing-song way.

Ianto whined his objection, clutching the cover tightly to him. There was a moment of silence before the Welshman groaned in defeat and, rather sluggishly, dragged himself out of the bed. Jack smirked and ogled his partner's naked behind.

"Do you plan on joining me, or are you going to just stare all day?" Ianto threw casually over his shoulder as he entered the en suite bathroom. It took Jack all of two seconds to jump out of the bed and follow his naked lover.

Unfortunately, the sun in Wales never last long, so it wasn't a surprise when, by noon, it had started to rain again. Nor was it a surprise that it continued raining into the night. It was still doing so at 11:00pm when the Torchwood team arrived at the murder scene. No one paid the weather any attention mind. They treated it much like they treated the police, and the press – like it wasn't really there. As the team crouched over the dead body, Ianto stood near by holding an umbrella in a failed attempt to protect the alien technology from being damaged in the rain. In all honesty, he wasn't quite sure what to do. He hadn't been at Torchwood Three all that long – even when he worked at Torchwood One, he had worked inside the buildings. He'd never experienced field work before. This … wasn't what he expected – it was less glamorous than it was made out to be.

"…Conception in the rain. Well, at least, I won't get pregnant – never doing that again." Jack mumbled shaking his head.

Ianto shot him a scathed look. "It seems Jack that you and I need to have a long conversation about keeping secrets. What a way to tell me you can get pregnant …"

"Guys please; can we not turn a murder scene into a domestic situation?" Owen asked in a sarcastic, pleading way. It made Jack let out a barking laugh, and Ianto smirk in an amused way, but they both fell silent, promising to discuss it later.

"How's it going?" Jack asked looking down at his team mates. Owen was filming the body with what seemed like an ordinary camera, but Tosh had changed the mechanics of the machine. Though it still could be used as a video tape, it focused specifically on injuries and smudges that would have otherwise been unnoticeable; Tosh was scanning in the area for Rift activity, as usual, as well as checking the health the boy was in before he died – this information could be used to identify the body – and reading the information from the experiment they were about to perform; Suzie had simply slipped the metal glove she had been put in charge of over her left hand, shifting her fingers into a comfortable position. She was now crouched over the corpse of the young boy, placing the fingers of the glove on his forehead. After all, it was for the glove they were here.

Suzie believed the glove had some kind of resurrection power and, from what they had seen, it worked in that exact way. So, now and then, when the need suited it, Torchwood Three left the Hub to find recently dead bodies as test subjects for the glove. It was exactly what they were doing now.

"Nothing yet," Suzie managed to say over the heavy rain, "I know there's a connection, I just can't feel it."

"Well, hurry up and feel it." Owen told her firmly, kneeling down beside her to trail the camera over her hand and the corpse's forehead. He gave her a look. "I'm freezing my arse off out here."

"I can't just flip a switch." Suzie told him, a hint of annoyance and longing in her voice, as she turned her attention back to the body, "It's more like access. Its grants me access."

"Whatever that means."

"It's like…like, oh!" Suzie said surprised as the glove shook in her hand. The creases between the metal plates lit up a bright blue color, as they had discovered it did when a connection was made between the glove and the dead body.

"Positions," Jack ordered in the voice Ianto had dubbed his 'Captain' voice. Tosh moved closer to the head of the corpse, standing beside Suzie whilst Owen bent down closer to the body, the camera finally away. Ianto moved the stand between Owen and Suzie, holding the umbrella over their heads. He had learnt from experience that newly awoken corpses don't tend to like the rain. Jack continued to stand close by, like an observer more than anything.

"I swear if this one punches me again, I'm going to punch you right back." Owen mumbled to the Captain.

Jack smirked in amusement for a moment. "Just concentrate," he ordered, "Suzie!"

The woman looked up momentarily and nodded in understanding. Very carefully, she lifted the boy's head up from the resting place on the concrete floor of the alley way using both hands. She then replaced the crown of the boy's head onto the palm of the gloved hand, slowly removing her empty hand. There was a strange change in scenery from that point, to Ianto at least. The rain stopped suddenly leaving only drippings from the edges of buildings and bins, and the lights that the forensic team had placed around the body seemed brighter than it had previously. It was as if time was standing still. Nervously, he shifted from one tailor fit shoe to the other.

There was the sound of surging energy coming from the centre of the glove, a sound he hadn't gotten used to, before the once dead body lurched forward with a pain filled gasp. He panted heavily, his heart rate high with fear and adrenaline from the moment he had been stabbed, and his eyes darted around frantic across the Torchwood team as they stared down at him, still in wonder at the workings of the alien glove.

"I was, I was, I was, I was…oh my god…I was going home…" the boy explained frantically, still scared, still afraid.

Taking control, Tosh leant down closer to the body and tried to smile encouragingly. "Listen to me," she told him both firmly and comfortingly, "We've only got two minutes so it's important that you listen, okay?"

"Who are you?"

"Trust me." Tosh told him calmly, purposely ignoring the question placed towards her. There was no time, "You're dead."

"How am I dead?" the boy asked panicking, his heart rate picked up again.

"You were stabbed." Owen told him bluntly with a sigh.

"I'm not dead, I can see you."

"We brought you back so we could talk to you. Now you haven't got long so we need you to concentrate. Do you know who did this to you?" Tosh asked.

It was that point that Ianto lost himself in his thoughts again. Call him a wuss or whatever, but he didn't't really want to hear about the murder of the young boy. He was even younger than him – it was such a waste. Such a pointless death. Despite the stop of rain, he kept the umbrella in place and instead glanced around him, his eyes trailing over the cop cars and officers that still stood on the side lines watching them with suspicion and curiosity, as one often did when Torchwood was mentioned. After all, no one was sure what they did.

It was the second time he scanned his eyes over the crowd that he noticed something was off. Something was missing. _A woman_, he remembered, _a police officer_. She'd been the one standing next to the car when they had pulled up in the SUV he proudly maintained; the one who had looked at Jack with such appreciation and it had taken all Ianto could not to growl at her and claim what was his on the spot, no matter who the witness – not that Jack would have minded. She was a brunette, dark hair, with a gap tooth smile. Pretty but not overly so. If he wasn't so sure about his relationship with the Captain, he would have been cautious or worried, but Jack didn't even notice her when they walked passed.

_That doesn't't explain why she's not here now though…_

Checking he wasn't overreacting (he had a tendency to do so, he had been told) he ran his gaze over the crowd of forensic scientists and the local police force. All faces which he had encountered and memorized before but, still, her face wasn't there. Now he was worried. He turned his attention back to the team and, on swift legs approached his lover. Jack gave him a raised eyebrow look of confusion.

He spoke in a low voice. "We have a problem. One of the officers that were here before us…she's gone…"

"Gone?"

"Yup. She's not here anymore. I can't see her."

"Who killed you, did you see them?" Tosh asked the boy urgently. They had limited time left and they had to get some form of information or there was no point in using the resurrection glove.

"I-I don't know…there was someone behind me…"

Owen rolled his eyes upward to meet Tosh's gaze. "Police said one stab wound to the back."

"So you didn't see anything?" Tosh sounded surprised.

The boy shook his head frantically. "No."

There was a mild panic as no one was sure what to ask the boy. They had 30 seconds left. "Don't waste it," Suzie had said but what could they possibly ask? He didn't see anything. Jack put the mild worry of the disappearing officer out of mind as he knelt down in front of the body. He kept him talking, asking him what he saw when he died.

Ianto felt a pang in the centre of his chest at the question. It was a stupid question, just used to fill time – Jack knew well enough what you saw when you died. He'd seen it enough times and it hadn't changed for years. Ianto had asked the same question before and he had no desire to hear the story of nothingness and darkness again. Instead, he reverted his attention to finding the officer that had disappeared. Normally he wouldn't have had a problem but he knew, from experience, that no police officer ever walked away from the scene of a murder. There was something in their mortals or something that told them they couldn't just leave – every cop had it so why would this one be any different?

With a dreaded feeling, he tilted his head up slightly and glanced to the roof of the building they were standing beside. It didn't look like he was looking upward so it would not alert the attention of the woman if she was up there. And she was. It wouldn't have mattered whether or not Ianto was looking straight at her because she was too wrapped up with the now moving corpse and, more importantly, the man that was talking to him. He continued to stare at her until the rain restarted, shocking him out of his thoughts. He listened for a moment to Owen and Tosh arguing over the announcement that the boy was dead as he slowly approached his lover's side.

"I found her…" he whispered.

"Where?"

He inclined his head upward. His face showing adorable confusion, the leader of Torchwood allowed his eyes to dart upward whilst not making it obvious. He gave Ianto a look of exasperation before he interrupted the argument.

"The last corpse we spoke to spent the whole time screaming for an ambulance…maybe there's no good way to do it." He started to explain before he moved his head upward and met the gaze of the shocked female police officer. He raised his voice, "What do you think?"

She gasped in a frenetically kind of way and instantly pulled away from the edge of the building, realizing she'd been caught, and hide herself from view. But it was already too late.

Ianto couldn't resist the chuckle that escaped him as he gave his lover entertained look. "Way to scare the woman, Jack…"

X

"The Weevil is in the cell and the SUV is parked away from prying eyes in the garage," Ianto explained loudly, walking into the Hub, "now, could you explain to me why there was a police car following you? What happened at the Hospital?"

"It was the police officer again. The one from the murder scene," Owen started.

Jack laughed. "She started talking to a Weevil. Then got some guy killed – Owen, Tosh, I need you two to sort that out as soon as possible." He spoke in his 'Captain' voice, moving to stand beside Ianto, his arm slipping around his waist, "I think we may have a problem with this one. She seems … determined. I don't think recton will work on her if she has a strong will…"

Ianto rested a hand on his lover's cheek. "We'll deal with it when the time comes. Until then, just relax."

He smiled encouragingly before leaning in and stealing a kiss from the older man. Jack hummed appreciatively, his grip on the younger man tightening. The touch was soft, meaningful, and oh so relaxing. For a moment, it was as if they were alone.

Tosh giggled behind her hand, her eyes sparkling with happiness for her friends. Suzie turned a light red color in embarrassment but couldn't tear her gaze away. Owen's eyes darted between the two women, before looking at the kissing couple again. He wrinkled his nose in disgust. "If you two start groping in front of me, I won't be responsible for my reactions."

"I think it's cute…" Tosh commented.

"Sweet," Suzie agreed.

"You would." Owen bit back, grabbing a small briefcase shaped bag from the metal table in the middle of the autopsy bay, "come on Tosh, let's go deal with the body. God, I hate civilians."

With amused looks, the three remaining Torchwood members watched the two leave, the alarm ringing loudly at their departure. Suzie watched the two men closely as they returning to undressing each other with their eyes. It became very clear what was going on in their minds. Nervously, she cleared her throat, drawing their attention.

"I'm going to do some more work on the Glove…" Suzie spoke, taking a step backwards, "…I will just leave you to…_that_…"

Chuckling to himself, Jack turned back to his lover with a smoldering gaze. "So Ianto…do you want to go and…do _that_?"

Ianto smirked. "20 seconds…"

X

"She's here again. Second time in an hour." Tosh commented from her station, watching the live CCTV footage on her computer screen. Dealing with the body had been simple, and the recton they had given the staff made sure the existence of the pauper was not remembered – she even wiped him from the Hospital database just to make sure. It had been a relaxed kind of day from that point on – Owen was continuing his work on the Weevils, Suzie was busy was her Glove, Tosh had immerse herself in trying to figure out the patterns from the Rift Manipulator that she had been putting off. They all had an idea of what their Captain and Tea-Boy were doing but didn't say anything when Ianto finally appeared and announced he was calling for a pizza. But, of course, nothing could be that simple.

"What's she doing this time?" Suzie sighed.

Tosh cocked her head to the right. "She's…carrying Pizza…"

Owen barked a laugh. "Never seen someone try that one before. She must be desperate."

Jack grinned. "I have an idea. We have to recton her – she's seen too much – but maybe we should have some fun with her first."

Ianto's eyes sparkled at the very idea. "What do you have in mind sir?"

He was waiting for her when she appeared in the Tourist Office, carrying a pile of pizzas – the one he had ordered. He didn't even begin to wonder how she managed to get Jubilee Pizza's to give their order to her. She appeared cautious, nervous – as she should do. He didn't know what she was expecting but she certainly wasn't dressed for an encounter with a secret organization: her top was too low, her jeans too tight. It was an effort to keep the fake smile in place.

"I, ah, have some pizzas here…for a Mr. Harkness." She lied.

The front door slammed shut behind her and she jumped, spinning on her heel to see what had happened. He pressed the button under his desk, opening the secret door in the back of the Tourist Office. The noise drew her attention back. She appeared surprised and glanced at him hesitantly. He grasped his coffee cup and sipped at the content delicately.

He raised an eyebrow. "Don't keep him waiting."

Ianto waited until she had stepped into the secret passage way to shut the door. As per orders, he left the Tourist Office and used the perception filter (aka the 'tourist' entrance) to reach the centre of the Hub. She didn't disappoint their expectations by spending a long amount of time in the darkened passageway.

Jack helped him off the lift, grinning. "Did she take the bait?"

He nodded. "In the tunnel - shouldn't be too long now."

"Excellent." Jack jumped gleefully, "Suzie, open the cog door ready for her arrival, then get into your position people."

There was a scramble to get into place, all laughing to them selves about teasing the civilian. It was something they enjoyed but didn't get to do often. Tosh sat herself at her desk, looking at old reports that really had no meaning. Owen was at his own station looking through the medical information he'd gathered about Weevils. Suzie used the time to continue her work on the glove. Ianto moved to the hot room, where the frosted windows hid the inhabitance of the room from the rest of the building, and Jack (after some persuading and pouting on his part) followed him.

A few minutes later, Gwen appeared in the door. With a click of a button, the cog door and the heavy iron gates were shut behind her, leaving the cop to believe she was trapped. They gave her a few moments, ignoring her pointedly as part of the plan and continued their work. From were Ianto was, he could see her look of amazement when she saw the hand in the container. Wistfully, he remembered when that was him, staring in awe at the Hub. Jack left the room first, making his way along the platform and down the stairs to his own office. Gwen's eyes followed his every move. Ianto's eyes narrowed in annoyance and growled under his breath.

He was really starting to _dislike_ this woman.

There was a tense silence around the room as the officer slowly wandered towards the Captain. She appeared nervous just determined. She paused only when she heard a small giggle behind her. A small giggle escalated into suppressed laughter.

Owen spun in his chair, his faces red from trying to stop laughing. "I can't do this! I'm sorry. I'm rubbish. I give up."

Ianto rolled his eyes at the statement and left the hot room. "Finally you're admitting it Owen, but Tosh you have no excuse."

She pointed accusingly at the medic. "He set me off."

"Well that lasted 0.2 seconds." Suzie laughed.

"Look, she's actually carrying pizza. I thought you were just joking." Owen commented, pointing his biro at the confused police officer.

"Come on, she was going to say 'here's your pizza'." Jack chuckled to himself, standing up and leaning against the doorway to his office, "and I would say 'how much?' and she'd say 'oh, whatever' twenty quid. Then I'd say 'oh, I don't have any money'…" he paused for a moment, "I don't have punch line but I would have thought of something, and it would have been good."

Ianto pushed pass the civilian to wrap his arms around his lover. "I'm sure you would have sweetheart."

"Here's your pizza and I think I better go." She said quickly, her face red, her dark eyes never straying from the hand that was around the Captain's waist.

"I think we've gone pass that stage." He told her coldly. Ianto had to hide a smile in his lover's shoulder. It wasn't that he didn't trust Jack – he did – it was just he knew the man was a sucker for a cute face and a Welsh accent. It was what had got him into his situation in the first place and though Jack told him it was just him, he couldn't help but think the immortal would wait for something better to come along and then leave him. He didn't want Gwen Cooper to be that 'something better'.

"How long were you walking around there? You must have been freezing." Suzie stated.

"You could see me?"

She nodded a tight smile on her face at the officer's shock.

"Before we go any further, who the hell orders pizza under the name of 'Torchwood'?"

Ianto raised his hands slightly. "Don't look at me."

"Uh, yeah, that would be me." Owen waved his pen, "Yeah, sorry, I'm a twat."

"Having a lot of epiphanies today aren't we Owen?" Ianto teased.

The doctor glared. "Shut up tea-boy."

"That man at the hospital…the porter…what happened to him?" Gwen asked quietly. "That was real, wasn't it? He was attacked…"

"He's dead."

"But…nobody's gone missing."

Tosh explained the dynamics of hiding the death of the porter from the rest of the world. It wasn't that difficult – in every sense, from that moment on, the porter left the building. It wasn't the nicest of ideas, chucking a corpse in the dock, but all members of Torchwood know that, no matter what, it is better for the human race to believe it was just another sick act from a human, than an alien attack. Apparently, Gwen has very high mortals. She then proceeded to get into an argument with Jack over the events that had brought her here – the death of John Tucker.

"What, did you see?" Jack repeated for the third time, more firmly.

"You brought him back to life."

"Yeah…" the Captain nodded.

A pause, "who are you?"

"Torchwood."

"What's 'Torchwood'?"

"This is Torchwood." Jack gestured around them, "All around you."

"And what happens to me?" Gwen questioned, "I'm with the police. Constable Gwen Cooper. You can't do anything…"

"And what makes you think we would?" Ianto wondered aloud.

"PC Cooper…do you want to come see?"

"See what?"

"You've seen the murder…now come see the murderer…"

Ianto watched the two leave through narrowed eyes. She stood too close to Jack but a pleased feeling washed over him when Jack purposely stepped away from her, not even looking her way. His phone beeped and he happily answered.

'_Hey mate. Drinks at Swan and Dove. You up for it?'_

"Can you guys handle yourselves for a while? My contact just got back to me." Ianto waved his phone, "Let Jack know where I've gone."

X

The Swan and Dove was an old fashioned pub – something that the 21st century didn't have enough of. Ianto remembered when he was younger and his Tad used to bring him in here, offering him some of his pint as long as he promised 'not to tell Ma'. As he grew up, this became the place he spent most of his time, up until the point he had moved to London for college. Now that he worked for Torchwood he didn't get much time to visit but, with certain situations, Jack was lenient and allowed him the time. This was one of those times.

"Ianto - over here!"

The Welshman smiled softly at the familiar voice and, almost like clockwork, he made his way to the old booth at the back that had, unofficially, become theirs. As expected, a grinning Rhys and Andy were waiting for him, three pints already resting on the time. The three men were an unlikely trio, even when they were younger and in primary school, it was a surprise that they even knew each other. Although they didn't spend as much time together now as they did when they were kids, they always made time to see each other – although this visit was just as much work as it was pleasure.

"Hey, how is life treating you?" Ianto asked, sliding into his usual seat.

Rhys sighed. "Girlfriends driving me up the wall but other than that, everything's perfect."

"I work with his girlfriend so…" Andy shrugged, smiling slightly, before sipping his drink.

"She is a hassle, huh?"

"You have no idea. Thinks she's God's gift, she does – never met a man with an ego so big." Andy laughed, "And now, she's convinced she saw that team you work for disappear into thin air on the Plass – and that you guys brought some kid back to life."

Ianto laughed along with him. "Nonsense, right?"

"I mean, I know Torchwood is strange and all, but I don't think you'd be pulling Houdini tricks."

"Yeah, she has been kind of nuts lately, but she always has been. Not the sort of person I usually go for but, you know, chance and all that…" Rhys explained awkwardly, his eyes on his beer. Andy watched him from the corner of his eye. Ianto watched the two closely, sipping at the pint. It had been obvious since year eight that there was some kind of chemistry between Rhys and Andy, though at that time, none had a clue what it was. As they got older, it became clearer, obvious but the two blindly refused to believe they thought of each other anymore than friends. At first, it had been amusing to watch his friend's skirting around each other (in some case, it still was) but the longer it lasted, the more Ianto wished his friends would just realize it wasn't this Gwen that made them happy, but each other. After all, he had been in the same situation.

"Let's stop talking of relationships – it's getting just a little too personal while I'm still sober." Ianto stated, grinning making his friends laugh – the desired affect.

Discretely, he pulled his phone from his pocket and typed a text under the table, so neither Andy nor Rhys saw what he was doing. He had manners after all.

'_Don't trust her. Recton at first chance. Wait up for me x'_

…_._

'_Done. Got Tosh to deal with her computer – no chance of her remembering. I have chocolate syrup and ice cream – hurry home x'_

X

Ianto shivered, rubbing the arms on his suit, as the wind blew violently around the rooftop. It was early – the sun had only risen a few minutes ago – but it was the normal time for him to be up and ready for work. Standing on the roof of his apartment building, however was not a daily occurrence for him. In the distance, he could see Jack standing on the edge of the building and felt this feeling of dread around him at the thought of the man dropping from that height. He quickened his steps.

"Jack!" he called, stopping just before the man disappeared from view.

The Captain turned his upper body towards the voice and smiled warmly when he was his freezing, young lover standing on the open rooftop. He took one last look out onto the horizon before he carefully made his way back to the safety of his lover's arms.

"Ianto…what are you doing up here?"

The Welshman eyed his curiously. "I could ask you the same thing. You only come up onto rooftops for two things: to give me a heart attack, and to think." He brushed a hand through his dark brown hair, pushing the hair back, "What's wrong?"

"I'm just thinking…about last night, with Gwen Cooper…" Jack trailed off, watching his lover's face. At the mention of the police officers name, he had become tense and his eyes had hardened.

"Really? I thought she wasn't a problem anymore." He pointed out through gritted teeth.

"She isn't – or shouldn't be. I'm just thinking…what if the recton didn't work?" Jack wondered, "I mean, she's strong willed and determined, right? It doesn't always work as well as it's meant to. There could be a trigger or something…"

"Well then we have to make sure she stays as far away from Torchwood as possible." Ianto said relieved. _Maybe we could send her to Australia or, better yet, Jupiter…_

"You really don't like her, do you?"

Ianto thought for a moment, debating whether there was a point in denying. "…No, I don't."

"But why?" Jack pressed.

He shrugged. "I don't know. Just this feeling in the pit of my stomach, something I've learnt to trust. Plus, I've seen the affect she has on people. Remember my friends Rhys and Andy – Gwen is a huge part of both their lives, whether it romance or work. She sucks the life out of people, and I know you…" he trailed off.

Jack's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. "So, I have something to do with it? Ianto, are you jealous, of a police officer?" when the Welshman stubbornly refused to answer, Jack reached over and took his strong chin between his forefinger and thumb, tilting it upwards and forced their eyes to meet, "Ianto…I don't like Gwen Cooper. She's just a complication that I've had to resolve. I don't know what I've done to make you believe I would leave you for someone else, but it would never happen…I care for you, and I'd never do anything to hurt you."

Ianto smiled softly and interlaced their hands. "I know, and I feel the same way about you. Come on, we should get to work. Leaving Suzie in charge for too long usually results in competitions that we can't seem to get out of."

"You're only sore because I can fit more dumplings in my mouth than you can." Jack retorted.

Ianto laughed. "That's not something you should be proud about. And, besides, that was only because the dumplings weren't all the same size."

"Huh, really? Try telling that to the judge."

X

"Ah, Jack – you know you were saying we may have a problem with Gwen Cooper?" Ianto started in one breath, leaning against the door to his lover's office. His eyes were wide with an underline panic and his suit was slightly wind swept. Jack straightened out in his seat, pausing in his paperwork, and narrowed his eyes in confusion.

"Yes…what's wrong Ianto?"

"Um, well, she's by the perception filter. If you're right about her being strong willed, there's no time before she'll find us again." Ianto explained, "Suzie went up before we could stop her and, well…"

"You think Suzie could help her to break through the recton." Jack finished, nodding to himself. He stood up abruptly and grabbed his coat from the stand, shrugging it on. "Alright, I'm going up there. Get her to come down. I'll make sure I'm not seen. You three stay here, watch the CVTV. I'll be right back."

Ianto wanted to argue, he really did, but he held his tongue and nodded obediently. Jack left him with a soft kiss to the centre of his forehead. He watched the Captain go with worry. It was only when he was completely out of sight, raised above the Hub using the tourist entrance, that the Archivist slowly turned to watch the CCTV recording that was being displayed on Tosh's computer screen.

He watched as the two women slowly approached each other, stopping about a foot or two apart. There was no sound so the three Torchwood members could only watch anxiously as their team mate's lips moved, wondering what she could be saying.

A shared, tense shock washed over them as the woman they had befriended, the woman they worked with, opened her bag and pulled a knife, extraordinary in design, from within it's confined. Gwen seemed to gasp and take a step back, her eyes glazed – like she was remembering.

"God, what is she doing?" Owen muttered, chewing on the end of his pen nervously.

The police officer stuttered some words despite her uneasiness, and Suzie continued to talk. On the CCTV, she was confident and her words firm and clear. No chance of mistake. The knife she held in her hand, something that seemed familiar, was waved randomly in front of her; it was almost careless. Suzie's face contorted into something filled with anguish or fear; she blinked more frequently and her mouth twisted downwards into a wobbly frown.

The knife was replaced in her leather bag and she fumbled around inside for a moment, jumpy it seemed. She glanced up at Gwen once or twice, saying something to her, before she knelt to the ground and pulled out a .30 callibar Webley handgun, aimed steadily at the officer.

"Jesus, what the hell is she thinking?" Ianto gapped.

Tosh tapped her comm. "Jack, please tell me you've got something up your sleeve. Last thing we need is an innocent to die, at the hands of one of our members, at the door to the Hub…"

"Wait. Wait…just wait…" Jack muttered back.

Suzie's speech, however long, could just about be heard through Jack's comm. now that the link had been opened. The three listened to her words intently. About what the glove does; about how it could be used to help people, resurrected them and, more importantly, about her murdering innocent people. She spoke about all she had seen, discovered, since she began work on the glove.

"_And…why…filter…work on me…"_

Instantly, she turned her gun in the direction of the filter and Ianto's heart clenched when the gun fired, a loud explosion, and almost certainly hit his lover. This feeling of dread and pain surrounded him at the thought of the Captain standing there, unexpecting, and now a needless death. He knew he was immortal, knew he could come back to him, but he knew how painful it was each time he was brought back. He hated the fact Jack had to go through it.

The corpse of the man he loved fell from his position on the perception filter and into sight. Gwen jumped as the body landed at her feet, and Tosh and Owen cried out in outrage. In an instant, the medic was on his feet, reaching for his gun that was sitting on top of a pile of paperwork, and acting as a paper weight.

"She's taken it too far." He muttered.

Ianto grabbed the arm of the man. "Owen, don't."

"Ianto…she killed Jack!"

His chest ached at the reminder. "I know, but Jack said to stay here."

"Jack's dead. Do you think his orders really matter right now?" Owen argued.

"Just…please…" he didn't know what else to say. He couldn't tell Tosh or Owen about Jack's 'condition'. It wasn't his place to say anything but…how else was he supposed to get the two to relax, to not go out there and get themselves killed? He sighed. "Jack…will be fine…"

"Are you alright Ianto? I know this is hard for you but, ah…" Tosh trailed off concerned.

"Our boss, your lover, is dead. Look," Owen pointed firmly at the footage on the screen, "he was shot through…the…head…" his voice trailed off into wonder and disbelief. Quickly, Ianto turned back to the screen to see a completely different situation: Suzie was dead, a gun a few inches away from her hand; Jack standing up, tall and alive; Gwen Cooper was on her knees, holding her head. He knew in an instant her memories were back. Bitterly, he knew exactly where she would end up now that they now knew recton would not work on her.

Tosh and Owen turned to him.

"Alright tea-boy, tell us…"

"…What the fuck just happened?"

X

Ianto hummed to himself as he fixed his home made coffee blend into five striped mugs. Much like he expected, Gwen Cooper was now part of Torchwood. Jack had told him – warned him would explain it better – that he needed to act in friendly way towards the new arrival. Well, he was trying. A heavy sigh from the Kitchen doorway drew his attention away from the boiling water and he attempted a pleasant smile in her direction.

"Gwen, what can I help you with?"

"I was just wandering if you could hurry up with the drinks, please." She added quickly, "Only everyone's getting antsy down there."

"Of course."

"Oh, and you can give me Jack's one. No point in wasting a journey when I'm going down their anyway." Gwen smiled.

Ianto gritted his teeth. "There is no problem. I can do it myself."

"No, let me do it," She said firmly.

He was silent for a moment. He approached her and stood close by. "Gwen…I'm going to give you a bit of…advice. If you want a happy time here, I'd follow it: don't even think about it."

She blinked innocently. "Think about what?"

Ianto laughed. "…Jack and you…It's not going to happen, ever, and I just think it's better for you, and for everyone around you, that you put that thought out of your mind right now."

Gwen smirked. "You can't stop me. Jack wants me here."

"You're only here because recton doesn't work on you. We have no other choice." Ianto corrected, smiling. He grabbed Jack's cup and his own, and gave her a look. "Now, you only get one chance. Jack Harkness is mine. He's said so himself countless times and no harpy is going to change that. Goodbye Gwen."

He smiled brightly at her shocked expression and, feeling proud of himself, he slowly made his way from the Kitchen to his lover's office. He set the drink down on his desk. Jack looked up from his paperwork with a relieved expression.

"Thank you Ianto." He breathed.

Ianto smiled. "It's no problem." He rested his own drink on the table and pressed his lips to Jack's. The man kissed back firmly with a moan of surprise. _Oh, yes, this is mine and I will fight you Gwen Cooper, and I will win._


	3. Chapter 2 Day One

**Chapter 2: Day One by Lucy Saxon**

Rhys wondered if Gwen would notice him banging his head against the table repeatedly. He doubted it. She hadn't been paying attention to him for most of the night, why would she start then? He didn't know why he'd agreed to this date night, he could have gone down the pub with Andy and Ianto instead. He definitely would have enjoyed himself more there.

Trailing off in the middle of his sentence, seeing Gwen sat with glazed eyes across from him, he gave her a frustrated look. She'd spent the evening alternating between staring into space, and avoiding any questions about her new job. Special Ops, she said it was. He'd given up asking; all he knew was Andy didn't know whether to be pleased or annoyed. Pleased that he wouldn't be working with her anymore, or annoyed at having to get used to a new partner. Personally, having seen Gwen on the job, Rhys thought that any partner Andy got would be easier to work with than Gwen.

Sighing to himself, he caught the waiter's eye, indicating for the cheque. "Let's have an early night, hmm?" he suggested, placing his hand over Gwen's to get her attention. He mustered up his best roguish grin, winking at her, and she smiled back halfheartedly.

"What the hell is that?" she said suddenly, looking straight past his head and into the sky. He turned, following her gaze, and his eyes widened.

"Is that a plane on fire?" he asked incredulously, seeing her frown. Other people were starting to notice now, shrieking and screaming as they ran from their seats, assuming the fireball – or whatever it was – was heading their way. He and Gwen stood, and her frown deepened.

"It's not a plane," she told him as it passed over their heads, before grabbing his hand, tugging him in the direction the fireball had just flown.

"Wait!" he urged, gesturing to their food, which hadn't yet been paid for.

"Come on!" she muttered, ignoring his protests and dragging him from the restaurant. He followed with a roll of his eyes, the two of them running round the corner to try and get a better look. As the fireball grew closer and closer to the ground, they stopped, wide-eyed as it finally touched ground somewhere on the horizon.

"What was that?" he said more to himself, snapped out of his daze as Gwen's phone bleeped. Watching her pull it out of her handbag, he frowned as she turned to him.

"I've got to go to work," she told him, sounding excited. Kissing him on the cheek, she dashed off without so much as a by-your-leave, leaving him standing in the street on his own.

Mysterious flaming meteorite lands and Gwen gets a text calling her in? That couldn't be a coincidence.

.-.-.

Having had no alerts of any kind, not even a Weevil Retrieval, Jack knew it was too good to be true. So when Tosh's computer bleeped halfway through a game of poker, none of them were surprised. Owen groaned, grumbling under his breath as Tosh darted to read the information appearing on her screen. Displacing Ianto from where he was leant against his chest, Jack followed her, leaning in to read over her shoulder. "Flaming meteorite in the sky, crashed in the park. Looks like its back to work, people. Ianto, text Gwen, would you? Let's see how she handles this," he ordered, already shrugging his coat on. Ianto did as he was told, and they got into the SUV, bringing it round to the front to wait for Gwen. It didn't take long for her to get there, and she got in the back seat next to Owen and Tosh. Staying back to coordinate, Ianto turned on his comm. And started listening to their conversation through Jack's earpiece.

"I saw the meteorite, what is it?" Gwen asked as Jack started to drive.

"That's what we're going to find out. Simple locate and cleanup operation. Find that meteorite before anyone else gets to it. Good to see you, by the way," Jack replied.

"Tosh, you found it yet?" Owen asked, as the machines bleeped around them.

"You got enough kit?" Gwen asked, slightly awed.

"Basic tracking and surveillance," Tosh replied, pointing at the screen in front of them. "The crash site. With this, we can tap into CCTV networks and databases..."

"Is this CRIMINT? This is the police computer system. You shouldn't have this," Gwen said, looking at the screen. Jack smirked to himself. It's not like they were using it for anything bad.

"Might wanna stop saying 'you' and start saying 'we'," he reminded her. He sped up when they reached the motorway. "Ianto, any news on the meteorite?" he asked over the Comm.

"Nothing yet, sir," Ianto replied.

"So what are we going to do? I'm pretty sure we can't take it back to your base, not in this car anyway," Gwen remarked. Jack chuckled slightly.

"We don't need to. We'll take samples, make sure it's not dangerous, then hand it over to the authorities. Chances are it's just a big lump of space rock. Nothing to worry about," he replied.

"The crash site is 100 meters ahead," Tosh announced, reading off the screen. Jack nodded as they drove down the dirt road, slowing slightly, and they saw a load of army trucks.

"Shit. The amateurs got here first," Owen swore, getting his bag and opening the door. They got out, and Jack looked over the bustling crowd.

"All right, usual formation," he ordered, walking forward. The others followed, and Gwen hurried to catch up.

"What's the usual formation?" she asked Owen.

"Varies," he replied shortly.

Ianto smirked to himself, leaning back in his chair. Looks like he wasn't the only one annoyed at their new member. Maybe having her around wouldn't be so bad, after all. The entertainment value of hazing her wasn't likely to wear off anytime soon.

Absently tossing Owen's stress ball between his hands, he listened as even the military refused to believe Gwen was Torchwood. He wasn't surprised; she didn't look like their usual type. Not enough backbone.

"So let's see what we came for," Jack said, having rescued Gwen from the soldiers. Ignoring Ianto's snickering through his comm., he followed the roped off path until they got to the crater. He saw Owen down by the meteorite and Tosh off to one side. "So what do we know?" he asked.

"Bog standard space debris," Owen answered, and then looked up at Gwen. "That's a technical term," he added patronizingly. Ianto had never been more glad for Owen's general dislike of people, police officers, and annoying women. It would be a long time before any of them took her even remotely seriously.

"Yeah, thanks," Gwen muttered, already riled up.

"So take all the readings, and let's get out of here," Jack said. It was cold, and if there was nothing interesting out here, he'd rather go home with Ianto. Owen nodded, and Jack set the toolbox he was carrying down, opening it. Gwen stood there, watching, as he got some tools out, throwing them down to Owen, who caught them expertly, taking off scrapings and putting them into vials, while Tosh scanned it with her machines.

"Make yourself useful, sweetheart. Pass us the big chisel from the toolbox," Owen called up to Gwen. Ianto could practically hear her scowl over the earpiece.

"Not 'sweetheart'. Gwen. One syllable, I'm sure you can manage," she retorted. Jack grinned to himself, glad it was too dark for Gwen to see. This could be interesting; most people would balk at Owen's sharp and occasionally hurtful teasing. The rest of them were used to it by now, though occasionally he did go too far when he got angry, saying something that would make Tosh cry, or make Ianto go quiet and almost mechanical in his work, or send Jack into deep, brooding silences.

"What, not Sweet Cheeks? Freckles? New Girl?" Owen asked mockingly. Gwen picked up the chisel Owen was asking for.

"It's a shame your tools aren't big enough for the job, darling. Catch," she said, and that made Jack snicker despite himself. Seems this girl would give as good as she got. She threw the chisel at him, as if throwing an axe, making it spin and lodge itself in the meteorite. Jack looked up in alarm. Well, bugger.

"Shit," Owen cursed, watching as gas issued from the hole in the meteorite. Jack immediately threw gas masks to each of them, and they put them on. Gwen stood there blankly, and he held one up to her face, as he held his own up to his mouth and nose.

"Put this on," he told her, and she held it so he could let go. A cloud of pink gas erupted from the hole and shot off into the sky. Gwen looked at Jack wide eyed, and he just raised his eyebrows at her in a 'that was stupid' expression. Owen gave her a dark look and went to start packing up, keeping the gas mask on his face. No one spoke as they finished up, and picked up their things, going back to the SUV. They didn't even look at Gwen.

"What happened?" Ianto asked them as they drove back.

"We found it, were taking samples, Gwen threw a chisel to Owen and missed, it hit the meteorite, released an unknown pink gas, which then went into the sky," Jack replied, and heard his lover wince audibly.

"I'm sorry. It was an accident," Gwen apologized from her seat.

"We know," Jack replied, though it probably wasn't very reassuring.

"Right, I'll see if there's been any sightings of pink gas in the area, or anything strange going on," Ianto said, before Gwen could start on her stream of apologies.

"Good thinking. We'll be back in a few," Jack told him.

"I really am sorry, though. I didn't mean to," Gwen repeated, and Jack held back a groan.

"No use apologizing now, you've already set an alien gas loose," Owen snapped at her.

"Well it's not like I did it on purpose! I'm sorry!" Gwen huffed, and Owen let out a frustrated noise.

"Look, Newbie, apologizing isn't going to do anything, so shut up and just hope we can fix your cock-up."

.-.-.

They reached the Hub, and when Ianto heard the cog door roll back, it was accompanied by the sound of Gwen apologizing profusely, still.

"I'm so sorry," she said emphatically, for what must have been the 50th time.

"Seriously, stop saying that," Jack replied as they walked up the steps. Glancing over his shoulder from where he was sat at the computer, he met Jack's eye, sending the man a sympathetic smile. Jack merely looked back ruefully, directing them all to the autopsy room.

"But I am, I mean, really... I mean, really, really sorry. God, I can't believe it," Gwen said as they walked past her.

"Didn't they teach you health and safety in the police?" Owen asked sardonically, setting up the samples for testing.

"You two chuck tools at each other, so I-"

"We didn't miss," Owen pointed out.

"I'll sort it. Whatever's happened, I'll deal with it," Gwen said firmly. "What do you think has happened? I mean, it was just gas, wasn't it? It can't be too bad, can it?" she asked. Ianto refrained from pointing out that gas wasn't exactly harmless, but Owen had no such restraint.

"Right, because gas never did anyone any harm," he said sarcastically.

"On the plus side, we've got good evidence. Relatively undamaged," Jack interrupted the argument, and Ianto frowned at the tightness in his lover's voice. This much stress on Jack so early on did not bode well for Gwen's future career. Or her chances at stealing Jack, which he could only be pleased about.

"On the downside, there's an alien on the loose. We don't know where it is, why it's here or what it's gonna do," Owen finished for him, staring pointedly at Gwen. Jack fixed him with a look.

"Give her a break," Tosh said to Owen, who rolled his eyes at her. She was too soft for her own good

"God, this has been the worst first day ever," Gwen murmured, more to herself than the others.

"We all make mistakes. Get over it," Jack told her. "Now we find and recover whatever came out of there."

"This might help," Ianto said, appearing in the doorway to the autopsy room. "Nightclub death, been phoned into 999. Circumstances sound...a little unusual. Might be connected," he told them, reading from a clipboard, which Gwen had a look at.

"Okay, that's weird," she declared, reading it. She passed it to Jack, who'd frown got deeper as he read further down the paper.

"We should definitely check that out. Good work, Ianto, see what else you can find," he said, kissing the younger man on the cheek as he passed, smiling gratefully. Ianto smiled back, reveling in Gwen's venomous glare. Take that, bitch!

.-.-.

Leaning against the railing and wishing he had a cup of coffee, Andy Davidson cursed whoever thought four in the morning was a reasonable hour to report a crime. He'd been fast asleep before the call had come, and thought wistfully of his nice warm bed as the SOCO approached him. "What are we waiting for, then?" he asked, hoping to get it over with as quickly as possible.

"Torchwood," the other man replied, clearly annoyed. "They called ahead, asked us to hold the scene for them. Taking bloody liberties, as always," he grumbled. Andy raised an eyebrow, wondering what Ianto and his team wanted with a nightclub death. Then again, Torchwood were always doing weird stuff.

Thankfully, it wasn't too long before the familiar black SUV drove up, parking across the road. Andy's eyes lingered on Jack Harkness, Ianto's bloke – they'd met a couple of times when he and Rhys went back to Ianto's flat – and the other two, Owen and Tosh he thought their names were. His eyebrows shot up to his hairline when he saw a fourth figure approaching at a jog behind the others. "Gwen?" he asked, stunned to see his old partner. Since when did she run with Torchwood?

"Hi," she greeted, slightly breathlessly. Andy wondered if Rhys knew about her new job. He doubted it; it didn't seem like the type of thing Gwen would tell him. Probably pat him on the head and tell him it was too complicated for him. Scowling slightly, he wondered if Rhys would ever see that he deserved better than Gwen. He deserved someone who loved him, not just put up with him.

"Bloody hell. Look at you, all posh," he muttered, eyeing her plain-clothed form. How the hell had someone like Gwen bloody Cooper gotten a job with Torchwood?

Ignoring the excuse she made about being too busy to call, they were both interrupted by Jack's reappearance.

"You can get away now, no point in you freezing your arse off out here," she told him, a patronizing tone to her voice. He held back a glare; who did she think she was? Just because she was with Torchwood didn't mean she could talk down to him now.

"Boss of me, now, are you?" he muttered derisively. She looked at him, an almost triumphant gleam in her eye, before walking past him silently. He watched her go, wishing she would fall down the stairs or something. Just enough to hurt.

Pushing away from the railing, he pulled out his phone to text Ianto. He needed answers, and he wasn't going to get them anywhere else.

.-.-.

"It's… a long story," Ianto said, his phone on loudspeaker so he could type with both hands.

"You're telling me it is. You know what she's like, how could you let Jack hire her?" Andy's voice replied indignantly, slightly tinny through the phone's small speakers.

"I didn't really have a choice. She found out too much, we couldn't do anything but hire her. None of us like it, but… we're hoping we'll be able to make her at least a halfway decent operative," he told his friend, his voice making it clear exactly how likely he thought that was. Andy snorted.

"Good luck with that, I've been trying for years, mate. I take it Rhys doesn't know?"

"If he does, he's not said anything to me about it. I doubt it, though; can you really see Gwen telling Rhys her big important secret? Probably fobbed him off with the same Special Ops bullshit she fed you," Ianto muttered his brow furrowing as he searched through records, trying to find anything that might connect to their mysterious cloud of gas. "I'll call him later and ask; it's only fair he knows what she's gotten herself into. God, how does he bear living with her? I'm in the same room with her for five minutes and I want to shoot her. Of course, her going after Jack doesn't help much," he added distastefully.

"She what?" Andy asked, shocked, and Ianto hummed.

"Yeah, she's been eyeing him up since she got here. She knows I'm with him, and I told her it wasn't going to happen, but she's as good as told me she's trying to take him away from me. Why the hell does Rhys stay with her?" he bemoaned, his mouth forming an unconscious frown at the thought of Gwen anywhere near his Jack.

"Fuck… you have to tell him, Ianto. I can't see Jack actually sleeping with her – the man's bloody besotted with you – but Rhys deserves to know his girlfriend isn't planning on being faithful. Makes me wonder if she's cheated before," Andy mused. Ianto made a noise of agreement, slightly happier at Andy's remark that Jack was besotted. It was nice to know other people thought so, that he wasn't just imagining things to save his own feelings.

"I know. How am I going to break it to him? He's blind when it comes to her." Frowning to himself, he looked up as the computer bleeped. "I've got to go, Andy. I'll call you later."

"See you, mate. Good luck dealing with Gwen." Hanging up on Andy, Ianto grimaced. He'd need all the luck he could get.

.-.-.

Ianto was just finishing compiling the data Tosh had emailed him when the alarms blared, the cog door rolling back. "That CCTV is really something isn't it?" he remarked wryly, earning a half-grin from Jack.

"All the aliens I've slept with over the years, not one of them has been able to do that. How's it going?" he queried, standing behind Ianto's chair and tilting the Welshman's head back, leaning over him in a gentle upside-down kiss. Seeing Gwen glaring out of the corner of his eye, Ianto kissed back eagerly, bringing up the files.

"Mm, not bad. I guess we're pulling an all-nighter, then?" he asked resignedly, earning an apologetic nod.

"Afraid so. We need to sort this out before she kills again. Don't suppose you could work a little coffee magic?" Jack questioned hopefully, a small grin tugging at his lips. Ianto rolled his eyes bemusedly, but nodded, getting to his feet.

"There's a few things you might want to look at, I did a couple of searches with the data Tosh had." Jack nodded, trailing a hand up Ianto's arm as the younger man headed for the coffee machine. Owen had set himself up in the autopsy room, and Tosh was typing a mile a minute at her own computer, leaving Gwen stood in the middle of the room looking awkward, unsure of what to do. Sending her a polite, cool smile as he passed, his eyes just warning her to try anything with Jack, he smirked to himself. Yeah, Jack wouldn't be going anywhere.

.-.-.

When he returned, a tray of coffee in his hand, Jack was plotting trajectories on the glass orbit diagram, Gwen watching him curiously, her eyes on his arse more than the diagram. "So what's this supposed to do?" she asked, hoping to draw Jack's attention to her. He didn't even look her way, focused on his task.

"I'm using satellite tracking data to determine the inward trajectory of the meteorite," he explained. Gwen stared at him blankly.

"He means he's trying to find out where it's come from," Tosh supplied from where she was running scans.

"Hey, sometimes a little techno-babble is good for the soul," Jack joked with a half-smile. Ianto smiled, setting the tray down on the table.

"Not when the person you're babbling at has no idea what you're talking about, Jack," Ianto cut in, and Jack rolled his eyes at him, grinning fondly.

"Ooh, you angel," he moaned appreciatively, one arm sliding around Ianto's waist as the other took his coffee mug. Ianto leant into the embrace, his own arm looping loosely around his lover's hips.

"So this is like a route planner?" Gwen blurted, leaning against the doorway, breaking the moment. Ianto already missed the days when he and Jack could work together without being interrupted. Tosh and Owen knew when to give them their space.

"Not far off," Tosh agreed, passing a paper to Owen. Reluctantly removing his arm from Ianto's waist to carry on scanning the diagram for calculations, Ianto wrapped both his arms around Jack, leaning his head against the crook of his lover's neck. He was tired already, and they'd barely even started.

"Rhys, my boyfriend, he's a transport manager. He does this sort of stuff. On a slightly smaller scale, though," Gwen mused. Tosh looked at her in surprise.

"You have a boyfriend?" she asked. Ianto snorted into Jack's neck, at both Tosh's response and the fact that Gwen was admitting to having a boyfriend. Did she think the fact that they would both be cheating make Jack want her more?

"Yeah. Have you?" Gwen asked a grin on her face. Tosh smiled at her, as if she was missing a private joke.

"Don't have time with this job," she replied knowingly. Gwen looked around, eyes landing on Owen.

"What about you, you seeing anyone?" she asked. Owen looked at her like she was crazy.

"You've gotta be joking! I can get all the grief I need here," he replied, laughing it off. Jack knew relationships were, and probably always would be, a sore spot for Owen, ever since Katie. Gwen looked from Tosh, to Owen, to Jack and Ianto.

"None of you have partners?" she asked, taken aback. Ianto rolled his eyes.

"Well, Jack and Ianto have each other, obviously. It's hard to connect with someone when you have to keep a big secret like Torchwood from them," Tosh told her, the look on her face saying that she didn't expect Gwen's boyfriend to stick around because of this reason. Ianto hoped that would be the case.

"I'm lucky to have someone who already knows what I do," Jack told her with a smile, turning his head to kiss Ianto's temple. "No secrets." Ianto watched Gwen's scowl, squeezing briefly around Jack's stomach. He knew exactly what his lover was doing, and oh, he loved it when Jack got devious.

.-.-.

"Ianto, we've got her. Prepare a cell," Jack's voice came over the comm., breaking Ianto's musings as he waited for a search to finish on the database.

"As far from the weevils as possible?" he presumed, turning to the stairs down to the cells.

"Please. We'll be there in ten minutes," Jack answered.

"Yes, sir," Ianto replied, knowing Jack loved it when he called him sir. Passing Janet, who was the only weevil, kept in the first-level cells – the rest were stored in the far more extensive lower levels or in cryo-chambers – he chose the furthest cell and gave it a glance over, checking it was clean. He cleaned the cells every week, but sometimes Owen left experiments to age in there and didn't tell him. Thankfully, this one was spotless, so Ianto punched in the code to activate its scanning sequences, and headed back up to the main Hub to wait.

He wasn't waiting long, and he was surprised at how young the girl, Carys, looked. Yes, he knew she was only twenty-two, but… she looked so much younger, so scared, he felt sorry for her. She hadn't asked for any of this. "Cell seven is ready for her," he murmured into Jack's ear as he passed, earning a nod from the other man. Deciding to busy himself in the archives until he was needed once more, he stopped at row 'Se-Sh', browsing the shelves to make sure everything was in place. Regardless of how many times he told Jack to leave filing artifacts to him, the older man always thought he was 'helping' by putting some away himself. Usually in the wrong position. Bless him for trying, though.

Hearing footsteps echoing around the walls, he turned, surprised to see Jack approaching behind him. "Tosh said you were down here," the immortal man said by way of greeting, leaning up against the shelves.

"Did you need me for something?" he asked curiously, unable to see any other reason Jack would wander into the archives empty-handed.

"No, just wanted to talk to you. Haven't had much of a chance to do that today," Jack replied softly.

"We've been busy, it's understandable," Ianto murmured distractedly, shifting two files around.

"Ianto, are you mad at me?" Jack asked tentatively. Ianto looked up.

"What? Oh, Jack, no, of course I'm not. It's just; these last few days have been pretty hectic, what with Suzie, and Gwen. I'm just a little short tempered. I'm sorry," he said sincerely, hoping Jack wouldn't ask him to elaborate on the many ways he'd like to kill Gwen Cooper. Jack smiled at him.

"It's okay. I was just worried I'd done something to upset you," he admitted. Ianto chuckled, holding out his arms to bring Jack into a loose hug.

"You haven't done anything, I promise. It's just Gwen bloody Cooper getting on my nerves; she's barely taken her eyes off you since she got here," he growled. Jack frowned, pressing his lips to his lover's.

"I thought I told you not to be jealous? I'm not interested in girls like her, regardless of how much she throws herself at me. Besides, I'd never leave you, you know that," he insisted, earnest blue eyes meeting Ianto's own. Ianto sighed, leaning his head on Jack's shoulder.

"I know, I just… I don't like the way she looks at you. I can't help it," he murmured. He felt Jack's lips press to his hair, and inhaled deeply, loving the 51st century pheromones that overwhelmed his senses.

"I know. But I promise the only eyes on me I care about are yours."

.-.-.

It was almost half an hour before the two surfaced, finding Tosh at her station. Jack wandered up behind her, Ianto pressing a kiss to his cheek before heading off to his own work station. "Found anything?" Jack asked, but she shook her head.

"I'm sorry, Jack, but it takes time," she said, upset at not being able to get the answers she needed. He squeezed her shoulder comfortingly.

"Hey, don't work yourself too hard," he reminded her. She smiled at him, but they were interrupted by Owen.

"Oi, you lot! Treat!" he called. They walked over to see the CCTV of Carys' cell up on the screen, and two sets of eyebrows rose. Gwen had Carys up against a wall and was kissing her passionately.

"Wow," Jack murmured softly, grinning to himself.

"Thought she said she had a boyfriend," Owen pointed out.

"You people and your quaint little categories," Jack said amusedly.

"We should really get her out of there," Tosh breathed, eyes transfixed on the screen.

"Yeah," Jack agreed, then snapped back to reality. "I mean, yeah, come on," he said, dashing off towards the cells, followed by Tosh. They came down the stairs as fast as they could, but by the time they got there; Gwen was already out of the cell and looking like nothing had happened, talking on her phone. She gave them a thumbs up and Jack let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding, going back up the stairs with Tosh to see Owen leaning on the railing. "She's fine, she got out on her own," Jack assured him, and he could have sworn he saw Owen's face fall slightly.

"Damn, I was hoping for a bit more than that," he said disappointedly, and Jack chuckled.

"You need a life," he joked.

"We all need lives, Harkness. Not going to happen while the rift is still active," Owen retorted, and Jack had to give him that one. He went off to see if Tosh's computers came back with anything, and vaguely heard Owen taunting Gwen, then a scuffling sound. He looked over to see Gwen pinning Owen up against the wall by his throat. He tapped Tosh on the shoulder and pointed over at the pair, grinning.

"Looks like she's got a bit of fight in her," he remarked. Tosh nodded.

"How long do you want to bet before they start shagging?" she asked. Jack looked at her.

"You don't think? Owen and Gwen? But I thought… never mind. I don't know," he replied. He'd been about to say that he thought Gwen A) had a boyfriend, B) was completely pissed at Owen and C) according to Ianto fancied him, but then decided against it. He realized Gwen was actually putting pressure on Owen, and realized he had best go separate them. He walked up to them and stood there, looking at Gwen. "You know, strictly speaking, throttling the staff is my job," he said to her. She stared Owen down hard for a few moments, before jerking her hands away from him.

"So, who's for Chinese?" Ianto's voice called as he came down from the tourist office with his arms full of brown paper bags. Jack grinned; Ianto seemed to have a sixth sense for telling when people were hungry. He jogged over to meet Ianto, taking some of the bags off him with a kiss.

"Perfect timing, you wonderful man. I'm starved," he praised, taking the food over to their 'dining table' and setting it down, taking everything out of the bags as Owen, Tosh and Gwen gathered round and sat down. They dished out the food and started to eat.

"So, what's it like here? I hope not all the aliens are sex-crazed maniacs," Gwen said, taking a forkful of sweet and sour chicken. Jack swallowed his special fried rice.

"Oh, no. We get all kinds of crazy stuff around here. Ianto, pass me your balls," he asked with a wink, and Ianto looked at him for a moment, before realizing Jack was talking about the prawn balls by his left hand. He rolled his eyes and passed them to Jack, who grinned. "Thank you. I was gonna reach over and grab them myself, but I didn't want another lecture about harassment," he explained cheekily, and Owen snickered.

"I'm sure Teaboy wouldn't mind you grabbing his balls, Jack," he ribbed, and Gwen nearly choked on her Chow Mein. Ianto shot Owen a deadpanned look, and Jack turned back to Gwen.

"Anyway, before I got distracted by Ianto's balls, which are delicious by the way," he added, chewing on one of the prawn balls with a leer at Ianto. "What's it like at Torchwood. Well, there was this one time, we had to track down this woman who'd married an alien," he remembered.

"Oh yeah, I remember that!" Owen exclaimed.

"You're serious?" Gwen asked, looking at them. Jack nodded, swallowing.

"Yup. We got to them, and he was sat in the chair, reading the paper, as normal as you please, until we disabled the illusion he was wearing. Turned out he was a dark blue, scaly, tentacled beaver thing. Or course, the wife faints in shock, and when we revived her, she says, she said, 'if I'd known what he was, I never would have married him'," He exclaimed, laughing and nearly choking on his food.

"She knew. She knew all along," Tosh said, emphasizing her words by pointing her chopsticks.

"She didn't care," Owen agreed.

"Until he started leaving black piles of mucus in the bathtub," Ianto finished, and they all started laughing, Jack making a sound of disgust.

"Always a big giveaway. Aliens have no sense of household hygiene," he said, taking a gulp of his water. "Which reminds me," he added, slapping his hands down on the table and standing up. "Gotta pee." He walked off, and Owen and Tosh immediately turned to Gwen.

"So, what's he told you?" Owen asked.

"What about?" Gwen asked, confused.

"Himself," Tosh said, as if it was obvious. Ianto groaned.

"Don't start that again," he moaned. Owen and Tosh promptly ignored him.

"You've been here longer than I have," Gwen replied.

"We were banking on you," Tosh told her.

"You're a copper, you're trained to ask questions," Owen added.

"You don't know anything?" Gwen asked, and the two of them shook their heads.

"Us two don't, but Ianto over there knows everything. Won't tell us, of course, bastard. We don't know anything. Not who he is, where he's from, nothing. Except that he's gay, obviously," Owen told her. Gwen raised her eyebrows.

"He could be bi, you know," she replied, awfully quickly. Ianto rolled his eyes discreetly, wondering how long it would take before she gave up.

"Nah, definitely gay. Only had eyes for Ianto, ever since the bloke joined this team," Owen said with a smirk, and Ianto barely restrained himself from smiling, making a mental note to buy Owen a beer later. Of course that wasn't true; Ianto knew Owen knew Jack was interested in women, too, but that would only fuel Gwen's fire.

"What?" she asked and Ianto smiled wryly.

"Thanks, Owen. And for the record, he's not gay. He's for lack of a better word, omnisexual. Man, woman, alien, doesn't matter. Well, it does matter now, because if he's screwing around behind my back, I'll kick his arse," he added, and Tosh rolled her eyes.

"You know he's not, Yan, he's totally devoted to you," she told him matter-of-factly, and Owen nodded.

"He is its sickening. Besides, even if he wasn't dating the Teaboy, period military is not the dress code of a straight man," he said derisively, and Ianto grinned.

"I don't know, I think it suits him. Sort of classic," Gwen reasoned with a dreamy look, and Ianto barely managed to withhold a snort. "We know he's from America, right?" she asked, not looking at Ianto

"We don't even know that for sure," Owen replied.

"No US citizen by the name of Jack Harkness born in the last 50 years," Tosh revealed. Ianto stifled a snort. Forget the last 50 years; try 3000 or so years in the future. He may not know much about Jack's past, but he knew the basics. After all, Jack had lived for over a century, he couldn't tell Ianto everything he'd been up to.

"Maybe his identity is classified," Gwen suggested.

"Just leave off, they're his secrets, he doesn't have to tell you," Ianto reminded them a little sharply.

"He must have his reasons, for wanting to keep things secret," Gwen said, and Ianto smirked behind his chopsticks. Not the reasons you'd imagine, he thought.

"Sure he has. Doesn't stop me from wanting to know what they are," Owen retorted, playing with his beer bottle in his hands. Gwen took a bite of a prawn cracker, then stopped.

"What's that sound?" she asked. Ianto listened closely, and was sure he heard faint sobbing. Owen reached over to grab the remote, and changed the screen to show the CCTV of Carys' cell. She was sat on the stone bench, head on her knees, crying. Jack came back in, slipping into his seat, and Gwen stood, turning to them all. "What are we doing having Chinese while a girl fights for her life?" she asked. Jack looked at her.

"Actually, while we've been eating, the computers have been running a full bio-scan on Cary. Profiling her blood, metabolism, organs, skin, the works. So we can see the effect the alien's having on her. They've also been taking samples of the air in the cell, so we can analyze and changes in the environment around her." He looked up at her, shrugging his shoulders. "Now, is that not enough? Do you want more? 'Cause, it gets kinda boring," he told her. She smiled at him with what looked suspiciously like pity.

"You've been hidden down here too long. Spending so much time with the alien stuff, you've lost what it means to be human," she said to him. Jack raised an eyebrow. That was a little harsh.

"So remind us. Tell me what it means to be human in the 21st century," he challenged. Gwen stared back evenly.

"Alright," she agreed, turning on her heel and walking off to her station. Jack shared a look with the others.

"Well, that was...unexpected," he said, after a long pause. Owen finished his food, then stood up.

"Right, while she does her touchy feely crap, I'm going to go do something useful. I'll give you a shout when I find something we can use."

.-.-.

As it happened, it was Tosh who found something first. Owen was still trying to put together a composition of the gas that would explain what it was, and from what Ianto saw, Gwen was printing out every scrap of information about Carys' life ever and blu-tacking it to the wall. Great, but what the hell did it matter that she had swimming badges and fancied Heath Ledger? She wasn't likely to find him wandering around Cardiff, and swimming would only come in useful if she fell in the bay! Still, it kept her occupied and out of the way, so none of them argued.

"You should take a look at this!"

.-.-.

Hearing a loud crash, followed by low murmurs that he recognized as Jack's voice, Ianto warily stood from his chair, grabbing his gun and stepping cautiously into the tourist office. He found Jack there, gun aimed at Carys, who was holding Jack's hand-in-a-jar like a hostage. Ianto winced; that hand was more important to Jack than anything he owned, it was his only hope of finding his Doctor. "Need any help, Jack?" he asked evenly, but Jack shook his head slightly.

"Appreciate the offer, just open the door," he said, holstering his gun. Ianto nodded and, without making any sudden movements, reached for the button that opened that door. Jack held his hands out. "Now give me the jar," he said calmly. Carys looked from him to the door and back again, then threw the jar over the counter and made a break for it. "No!" Jack cried as the jar hit the floor with a loud smash. He ignored that Carys had escaped, vaulting over the counter to see the hand writhing feebly in a pool of liquid and broken glass. He heard running footsteps as Tosh and Gwen came in, and they took one look at Jack, cradling the hand in his own, and ran out, attempting to search for Carys. Ianto placed a hand on Jack's shoulder, and his lover looked up at him, a torn expression on his face.

"I'll go get another jar," Ianto said softly, and Jack smiled thankfully at the only other person who knew exactly whose hand it was and why it meant so much to Jack. Ianto came back a minute later with a new jar of bubbling liquid, and Jack eased the hand inside. The girls came back in, slightly out of breath, and Jack wordlessly went back through the corridor, into the lift, followed by them. Ianto stayed back to clean up the mess. When they got to The Hub, Jack put the hand in its rightful place, and Gwen looked at him, arms folded over her chest.

"After all I said, a severed hand is more important to you than Carys' life," she said, raising an eyebrow, and Jack resisted the urge to point out that she'd been here a day, and not to question him. She didn't understand that it wasn't just some random hand Jack liked to keep in a jar. That would be creepy.

"Yes. Now, you want to prove yourself? Find her."

.-.-.

"You need an extra body going to find Carys?" Ianto offered as Jack pulled his coat on. Jack shook his head.

"No way, you're staying here," he declared firmly. Gwen smirked smugly, and Ianto shot her a dark look.

"Why? I'm perfectly capable," he argued, but Jack cut him off.

"I know you're capable, you're more than capable," he said, and Gwen's smirk faltered. "But you saw Tosh's scans; her pheromones are through the roof. I'm not taking that risk with you." Ianto raised an eyebrow.

"What, you think she'll shag me to death?"

"Yes! There's no going against the pheromones once you get a hint of them, you won't be able to resist. I don't want to lose you to some sex-crazed alien gas," Jack insisted, raising his voice, eyes begging Ianto to do as he was told.

"Oi, what about me?" Owen protested indignantly, and Jack spared him a glance.

"I'm not dating you," he said by way of explanation. "Please, Ianto," he added in a quieter tone, cupping his lover's cheek. "Just stay here, for me?" Sighing, Ianto nodded; how could he resist when Jack gave him the puppy-eyes?

"Fine. You be careful, too. I don't know if you can heal from that, and I don't want to find out," he remarked. Jack chuckled, kissing him chastely.

"I'll be careful, promise."

.-.-.

Jack let out a sigh of relief, watching the gas fold in on itself and die inside the prison, falling as a pile of pink ash with a low moan. Kneeling down, he scraped his hand through the ash, letting it fall through his fingers. "Travel halfway across the universe for the greatest sex… still end up dying alone," he mused sadly, glancing back up at Gwen. Part of him had wanted the gas to inhabit her, to put her through the struggle Carys had gone through. Maybe that would teach her to be a little more careful next time.

Gwen stared at him, giving him obvious doe-eyes, and leaned forward, puckering her lips. Catching her intentions a split second before her lips hit his; he jumped back, pushing her away by the shoulders. "What the hell?" he asked angrily and she blushed.

"I… I just wanted to say thank you," she murmured, giving him an imploring look. He raised an eyebrow at her.

"And you couldn't have done that without kissing me?" he retorted.

"She what? Oh, I am so putting a weevil in her bathroom," Ianto's angry mutter sounded in Jack's ear through his comm. He grimaced, standing and turning away from Gwen, looking to Tosh and Owen, who were glaring at the ex-policewoman. Yeah, she was so dead.

.-.-.

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?" Ianto demanded as soon as Gwen stepped through the door, his expression furious.

"Excuse me?" she asked, trying to act innocent. Ianto glared at her.

"Kissing Jack! I told you to back off, he's not interested!"

"I didn't kiss him!" she protested, and Jack scoffed.

"Only because I pushed you away before you could. Ianto's right, Gwen. I'm not interested, and you need to learn that before you really piss someone off. I'm sure your boyfriend won't appreciate you going after another man behind his back, and I know I don't appreciate you trying to kiss me when I already have a boyfriend!" he told her sharply. Gwen's expression faltered, as if she'd expected Jack to defend her, and Ianto sighed.

"I'll let you off this time, because you're new. But I swear, if I catch you trying it on with him one more time, I'll retcon you back to infancy," he told her, his voice deadly serious. Gwen turned to Jack, an indignant look on her face.

"Jack, you can't let him do that! He's threatening me!" she exclaimed. Jack merely raised a cool eyebrow at her.

"I know exactly what he's doing, Gwen. I'll be the one giving him the retcon to do it with. Go home, Gwen. See your boyfriend, try and remember why you love him, go back to your normal life. Don't try and become like us, you're too fragile for Torchwood. Keep your life in the outside world, because with the attitude you have, you won't survive in ours without it. Go home, and I will see you for work tomorrow." His tone left no argument, and he glared heatedly at her, leaving her no choice but to grab her bag and leave, looking like she might burst into tears. When she was gone, Jack moved to Ianto's side, kissing his forehead softly. "I never would have let her kiss me."

Ianto wrapped his arm around Jack's waist, leaning into his side. "I know, Jack."

"God, she's thick! Can we not just retcon her anyway, save the hassle of trying to train her?" Owen asked, and Jack snorted.

"Unfortunately, no. As much as I hate to admit it, we need her on the team; we're small enough as it is. More people means more off hours for all of us and more people to go after aliens. I don't want any of you dying because we're shorthanded," he explained. Ianto rolled his eyes.

"Like she's going to be much help in a life or death situation. She'd probably shoot us herself by accident," he muttered. Even Tosh couldn't stifle her giggle, and Jack smiled.

"I'll have to take her down to the firing range sometime." It didn't sound like he was particularly thrilled to do so, and he squeezed Ianto around the waist. "Now, its nine thirty, and none of us have slept in two days. Get some rest, I'll see you in the morning," he said, prompting Tosh and Owen to gather their things. Meeting Ianto's eyes, he brushed their lips together. "Just let me grab some things and we can head home," he murmured quietly, his hand carding through Ianto's dark hair.

"I'll wait here," Ianto assured with a fond smile, watching Jack as he jogged up to his office. Nodding to Owen and Tosh as they left, he pulled his phone from his pocket, a slight frown on his face. He couldn't call Rhys now; Gwen would be home soon. Opening up a text window instead, he typed out a quick message.

'Meet me tomorrow at 1 in the pub, need to talk to you.'

Slipping his phone back in his pocket, he waited for Jack to return, sliding his hand into the other man's when he did. "Oh, God, I'll be glad to get to bed. It's been a long two days," he murmured, the tiredness setting in now that everything was over and he could relax. Jack's arm snaked around him, letting him lean tiredly into his lover as they headed for Ianto's car.

"Yeah, you need sleep. Come on, I'll drive." Taking the keys, Jack climbed into the car after practically pouring Ianto into the passenger seat. Reaching over to rest a hand on his lover's thigh, Jack pulled out of the car park, wanting nothing more than to curl up with his Welshman and rest. He was really starting to regret hiring Gwen Cooper.


End file.
